Christian Rijs
About Christian Rijs
Christian Rijs serves as Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Compliance Officer for The European Equity Fund, Inc. (EEA), having held the role since 2021; he was 45 as of the 2025 proxy and 44 as of the 2024 proxy . He is a Director at DWS and a Senior Team Lead in Anti-Financial Crime and Compliance; he also serves as AML Officer for DWS Trust Company, DBX ETF Trust, and various DWS US registered investment companies advised by DWS Investment Management Americas, Inc. since 2021; previously, he was DWS UK & Ireland Head of Anti-Financial Crime and MLRO . The Fund’s filings disclose no EEA officer compensation and show no EEA share ownership by Rijs, so fund-level pay-for-performance alignment and insider trading signals tied to EEA equity are limited .
Past Roles
| Organization | Role | Years | Strategic Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| DWS (UK & Ireland) | Head of Anti-Financial Crime and MLRO | — | — |
External Roles
| Organization | Role | Years | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| DWS | Director; Anti-Financial Crime & Compliance Senior Team Lead | Since 2021 | Role disclosed in EEA proxy |
| DWS Trust Company | AML Officer | Since 2021 | Disclosed in proxy |
| DBX ETF Trust | AML Officer | Since 2021 | Disclosed in proxy |
| Various DWS US registered investment companies | AML Officer | Since 2021 | Disclosed in proxy |
Fixed Compensation
| Component | FY 2024 | FY 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Compensation from EEA (Fund) ($) | None — “No compensation is paid … to officers.” | None — “No compensation is paid … to officers.” |
Note: Officers are employees of DWS affiliates; any compensation paid by DWS is not disclosed in EEA’s proxy .
Performance Compensation
| Metric | Weighting | Target | Actual | Payout | Vesting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Not applicable — EEA pays no officer compensation; no performance-based awards disclosed in Fund proxy | — | — | — | — | — |
Equity Ownership & Alignment
| Metric | As of May 2, 2024 | As of May 16, 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Shares of EEA Common Stock Beneficially Owned (Rijs) | None | None |
| Ownership as % of Outstanding | — | — |
| Shares Pledged as Collateral | — | — |
| Options (Exercisable / Unexercisable) | — | — |
| Group Ownership | As of May 2, 2024 | As of May 16, 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Directors, Nominees & Executive Officers as a group — Total Shares | 5,396 | 3,930 |
| Group Ownership as % of Outstanding | Less than 1% | Less than 1% |
The Director table also discloses dollar ranges for Directors, but officers (including Rijs) show “None” for shares owned in the EEA-specific executive officer table .
Employment Terms
| Term | Disclosure |
|---|---|
| Role start date | Since 2021 (AML Compliance Officer) |
| Contract term length | — |
| Auto-renewal clauses | — |
| Non-compete / Non-solicit | — |
| Garden leave | — |
| Severance provisions | — |
| Change-of-control triggers | — |
| Clawback provisions | — |
| Tax gross-ups | — |
The available 2024–2025 proxies do not disclose officer employment agreements, severance, or change-in-control economics for Rijs; no Item 5.02 8-Ks were identified in the results set covering his appointment/terms .
Investment Implications
- Pay-for-performance levers at the Fund level are limited: EEA pays no compensation to officers; any incentives are set and paid by DWS, not disclosed in the fund proxy .
- Alignment via EEA equity is minimal: Rijs reports “None” for EEA share ownership in 2024 and 2025, and the broader group of directors/officers holds less than 1% of outstanding shares, reducing direct stock-price alignment and insider-selling signal relevance for EEA .
- No vesting schedules, RSUs/PSUs, or option awards tied to EEA are disclosed, implying low insider selling pressure from EEA-linked equity awards .
- Governance context: EEA has no compensation committee given it has no employees; officer pay is external to the Fund, limiting EEA’s direct influence over compensation alignment .
- Critical gaps: Employment contract terms (severance, change-of-control, clawbacks, restrictive covenants) are not disclosed in EEA filings for Rijs, constraining retention-risk and exit economics analysis from fund documents .